UK-based singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid was keen to ensure that her fourth solo album Walking Into White got at least a few full-length listens before being subsumed into playlists – so she’s performing the whole thing live, track by track, as the first half of each concert on her forthcoming April-May UK and Ireland tour (see full details of dates below). Released in February on the USA-based Waterbug label, Walking Into White has already drawn praise from critics. The album was officially launched on March 6 at the first concert on Sarah’s currently underway Netherlands-Belgium-Germany tour, where both the live album performance and the more relaxed second half (incorporating greatest hits from Sarah’s previous CDs as well as an encore rendition of Jerry Jeff Walker’s classic Mr Bojangles) earned a rapturous reception from the audience. “It’s all done live on the night,†Sarah explains, “but Martin has to do a lot from the desk end to make it happen. On Low Winter Sun, for example, before I start the song proper, I play a chord on the guitar which he samples and turns into a lovely lush wash of controlled feedback that turns up later in the song as a background and underpinning for the bell peal that I’m playing on the guitar. “And on Jackdaws Rising, I start by laying down a 5/4 time stomp and handclap pattern that he turns into a percussion loop repeating through the song, while each part of the three-part round also loops until I get to the final repeat of the first part. It’s like walking a tightrope – incredibly difficult to get the timing right, but when it works it’s amazing!†See https://youtu.be/ZcGNbm4yfD4 for a video of Sarah’s performance of ‘Jackdaws Rising’ at the album launch show on March 6 in Steendam, Netherlands.
